The Curacao Cure - Part 5

A unique, deep underwater car graveyard, this is a must see for antique car enthusiasts and wreck lovers alike. Dumped atop a healthy existing reef in the 1960’s in an ill planned effort to create an artificial reef, the Car Pile is gradually being reclaimed by the sea. You’ll find not only cars, but also trucks and construction equipment dating back to the 1940’s. Take a wide angle lens and get a picture of your buddy posing with their favorite model, but be careful, the cars have gotten a tad rusty and there are many sharp edges!

This is an easy shore dive, located just right of Superclub Breezes’ house reef. Breezes has an onsite dive shop, showers, restaurant, and full amenities. This site can also be accessed for free from the neighboring public beach of Marie Pompoen. Currents are generally light, but the surface can get a bit choppy.

En route to the car pile you’ll swim over a variety of shallow coral along the artificial breakwater. This area is great for snorkeling and novice divers. Stony Corals dominate, with Squirrelfish, Angelfish, and Parrotfish swimming among the rocks. Continue until reaching the drop-off a few minutes further on. Look for the pontoon wreck at 65 feet and continue down to the cars. The reef starts at 80 feet and the wrecks are scattered around at 90 feet and below, nicely encrusted with sponges and black coral.

Spotted Drum Fish grow unusually large in these waters and can be found hiding among the wrecks. Trunkfish also populate the Car Pile, swimming in their seemingly awkward manner between the corals.

This is a deep dive; remember your training and plan accordingly.

Above text from Curacao Actief.

Woody and Sean were really excited about going on this shore dive. Woody because he runs an auto body shop and Sean because he has been a car enthusiast his whole life. Woody brought his brand new digital video camera and Sean brought he brand new underwater film camera. Everybody was stoked. Sean and some of the other divers got into a bit of trouble on this dive. The tops of the cars are at 90 feet, so they swam down to examine the wrecks and were deeper than they were supposed to go. The dive master was kept busy warning people that they were too deep. Woody got some great footage of himself getting into a wrecked car, but it was lost because he was so new to the camera operation that he did not save it properly when he got home. Now it cannot be found. Sean is planning on running some recovery software on Woody's computer to see if he can find it. Sigh.